Roses may be the star attraction in Pasadena, California on January 1, but the place to head to view other botanical wonders is the nearby city of San Marino. Here the world renowned gardens, museum, art collection and library of the Huntington Museum and Gardens await. It's definitely worthwhile to take a day to stroll through the 130 acres filled with 15,000 kinds of plants from all over the world, and spend a little time with the works of art. Fifteen specialized gardens are arranged within a park-like landscape of rolling lawns. 

• The elegant North Vista, reminiscent of a formal European garden, combines an expanse of lawn, flowering shrubs, and 17th century stone statues portraying allegorical and mythological subjects. The camellia collection that surrounds the North Vista includes over 1300 cultivars and over 30 species of camellias, complemented by hundreds of azaleas that are in bloom from December to early spring.
• The Desert Garden has a large outdoor grouping of mature cacti and other succulents. This landscaped area covers twelve acres with more than 4000 species of desert plants. Many beds reflect floristic relationships, with plants grouped by geographic area. At the upper end of the garden is a greenhouse for those succulents needing shelter from rain and frost.

• Enter the Japanese Garden, within a high wall, through the entrance flanked by lion-dogs standing guard. This area features a temple bell, moon bridge and reflecting ponds, canyons with spring-flowering trees, stone lanterns and pagodas, and a furnished Japanese house on the hillside across the lake that exhibits elements of traditional Japanese life. 

The courtyard is a Zen garden, a raked gravel composition that invites contemplation. Beyond is a smaller court, which contains a collection of bonsai.

• Follow the history of the rose over 1,000 years in the Rose Garden. Among the nearly 1,500 cultivars, arranged historically, are varieties that were cultivated in Medieval and Renaissance times; some of the original Tea and China roses and many of their descendants; 19th-century shrub roses, descended from the old European roses; climbing and rambling roses, hybrid teas, floribundas, polyanthas, and miniatures, growing in beds, and on arbors, arches, and pergolas.

• Other collections include the Subtropical, Herb, Jungle, Australian and Palm Gardens, the  Lily Ponds, and the themed Shakespeare Garden. 

When you're tired of looking at plants, take in the splendors of the library and art collections. Among the rare books and manuscripts on display in the library are the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, a Gutenberg Bible on vellum, and the double-elephant folio edition of Audubon's Birds of America. The Huntington Gallery is home to one of the most comprehensive collections in this country of British and French art of the 18th and 19th centuries (don't miss Gainsborough's Blue Boy and Lawrence's Pinkie). The Arabella Huntington Memorial Collection features Renaissance paintings and 18th century French sculpture, tapestries, porcelain and furniture.

Other nearby  places of interest include Descanso Gardens, a 165 acre garden with 35 acres of camellias, a California Oak forest, five acres of roses, a bird observation station, a nature trail and numerous ponds and fountains; Gamble House, an historic house built by the Greene Brothers; and the Los Angeles County Arboretum, featuring 30,000 plants of over 5,000 species on 1276 acres.

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